Cardiovascular Clinical Research

The centerpiece of the program is a network of Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Centers, with the following goals:

A call for proposals for the first Reynolds Center was issued in September 1998. Kenneth I. Shine, M.D., then President of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, was appointed to recruit and lead the Advisory Panel that would assist in selecting and monitoring the progress of the first Reynolds Center. The American Heart Association agreed to administer the selection process. Howard E. Morgan, M.D., Evan Pugh Professor of Physiology, Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University, was named as a consultant to serve as the Foundation’s liaison with the American Heart Association and help in administering the program.

Proposals were received in December 1998 from 17 academic health centers. After thorough assessment of these proposals by the American Heart Association’s peer review committee, Dr. Shine and his Advisory Panel colleagues in June 1999 recommended that the first Reynolds Center be established at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Accepting that advice, the trustees approved a four-year grant to UT Southwestern of $24 million. The Advisory Panel also recommended that Stanford University be invited to refine and resubmit its proposal within one year. In July 2000 the trustees approved a grant to Stanford of $24 million over four years to establish the second Reynolds Center.

The Foundation’s Advisory Panel monitored the two Reynolds Centers closely in annual site visits and in April 2002 concluded that both had been successful in launching their activities. That success led the Foundation’s trustees to issue a call for proposals for two more Centers. In response, 25 institutions submitted proposals in September 2002.

Aided by a peer review committee convened by the American Heart Association, the Advisory Panel in April 2003 recommended that the two additional Reynolds Centers be established at Johns Hopkins University and at Harvard Medical School and its affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Based on that recommendation, the Foundation’s trustees awarded four-year $24 million grants to both institutions. In addition, they awarded $6 million to UT Southwestern, providing a fifth year of support for the Reynolds Center in Dallas, as recommended by the Advisory Panel.

In July 2004 the trustees awarded two supplemental grants, as recommended by the Advisory Panel: $12 million to UT Southwestern, supporting its Reynolds Center for an additional two years, and $6 million to Stanford, providing its Reynolds Center with a fifth, terminal year of support.

In October 2005 the trustees initiated a new phase of the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Program in their decision to limit future support to those Center projects offering the greatest promise for clinical impact within a reasonable period of time in the following three areas:

The first grant under the new guidelines was awarded in May 2006 to UT Southwestern, totaling $11,894,071 over three years, as recommended by the Advisory Panel. In January 2007 the Foundation’s trustees awarded three-year renewal grants of up to $12,885,936 and $12,634,505, respectively, to the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and to Johns Hopkins University.

In addition to the direct support of the Reynolds Centers, the Foundation’s trustees have sponsored five symposia of the Centers’ scientists. The next symposium will be hosted in Dallas by UT Southwestern in May 2007.

The Reynolds Centers and their symposia represent a major investment by the Foundation, totaling more than $157 million. The Reynolds Centers and their symposia represent a major investment by the Foundation, totaling more than $157 million. The work of the three current Centers is described below.

Additional information on the Reynolds Centers is available at:
http://www.reynoldscenters.org

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

The goals of UT Southwestern’s Reynolds Center are to improve the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic heart disease and to prevent or reverse heart failure resulting from the disease. Serving all of the Center’s work is the Dallas Heart Study, providing detailed data on the health, genes, living conditions, behaviors and beliefs of a representative sample of Dallas County’s population.

The Center is directed by Helen H. Hobbs, M.D., an expert on molecular genetics who also directs the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development. In addition to Dr. Hobbs, the Reynolds investigators are Eric N. Olson, Ph.D., and Daniel J. Garry, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Hobbs is leading a major project, drawing on the Dallas Heart Study population, to develop tools that can identify more individuals at various stages of risk for the development and progression of atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic heart disease. Dr. Olson is attempting to employ small molecules to change the interaction of proteins to halt harmful heart enlargement. Dr. Garry is collaborating with Dr. Olson in an effort to discover how resident stem cells could be made to become heart cells that could play a role in repairing a damaged heart.

Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital

The Reynolds Center at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital is focused on identifying new targets for therapy and new predictors of risk for atherosclerosis.

The Center is directed by Peter Libby, M.D., Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Other Reynolds investigators are Paul M. Ridker, M.D., and Marc S. Sabatine, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Ralph Weissleder, M.D., Ph.D, and Robert E. Gerszten, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital. All also are members of Harvard Medical School’s faculty.

A major Harvard project, led by Dr. Ridker, is developing a Reynolds Risk Score to assess an individual’s risk for atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic heart disease. That work draws on the widely used Framingham risk score and involves identification and validation of possible new biomarkers, tapping genetic and other data from the Women’s Health Study. Another Harvard project, led by Drs. Libby and Weissleder, seeks to apply advances in molecular imaging to the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. Drs. Gerszten and Sabatine are leading a project to identify metabolism-generated (metabolomic) markers by which to detect an over-stressed heart and early-stage atherosclerosis.

The Johns Hopkins University Reynolds Center is devoted to reducing the incidence of sudden death associated with cardiovascular disease and to developing new therapies to regenerate heart tissue and strengthen the heart.

The Center is directed by Eduardo Marbán, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Cardiology. Its other Reynolds investigators are Robert G. Weiss, M.D., and Aravinda Chakravarti, Ph.D.

A project led by Dr. Weiss seeks to identify the risk of sudden death among patients with a history of heart attacks, employing clinical data and state-of-the-art molecular imaging methods. One goal is to determine who will benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). A second project, led by Dr. Chakravarti, is searching for DNA variations that may be associated with sudden death. Preliminary results point to one gene and possibly others. Dr. Marban is attempting to develop therapies aimed at regenerating damaged heart tissue, drawing on stem cells that are present in the heart.

THE DONALD W. REYNOLDS FOUNDATION CARDIOVASCULAR CLINICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY PANEL

CHAIRMAN
James T. Willerson, M.D.
Edward Randall III Chair and President
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs
Suburban Hospital Healthcare System
Bethesda, Maryland

Craig T. Basson, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Cardiovascular Research
Greenberg Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
The New York Presbyterian Hospital

Thomas F. Budinger, MD, PhD
Head, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Functional Imaging
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Chair, Department of Bioengineering
University of California, Berkeley

Robert M. Califf, M.D.
Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research
Director, Duke Translational Medicine Institute
Duke University Medical Center

Bernard J. Gersh, MB, ChB, DPhil
Division of Cardiovascular Diseases
Mayo Clinic

Russell V. Luepker, MD, MS
Mayo Professor & Head
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health
University of Minnesota

David D. Sabatini, Doc en Med, PhD
Professor and Chairman
Department of Cell Biology
New York University School of Medicine


	Cardiovascular Clinical Research
	(l to r) Dr. Richard Lange and Dr. Wendy Post view results of research projects conducted at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center.		At their 1995 planning retreat, the Foundation’s trustees set improving Americans’ health through support of medical research as one of their goals. Soon after the 1995 retreat, the board decided to address the need for more private support of clinical research to fight heart disease, the nation’s number one killer. A distinguished panel of experts, led by Harvard cardiologist Thomas W. Smith until his death, met in 1996 and 1997 to assist a trustee committee in formulating a plan by which the Foundation could pursue its goal. Their plan called for supporting collaborative, multidisciplinary research and its application to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerotic heart disease through a network of interacting institutions and scientists. The plan was refined in 1997 and 1998 by the Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. The Foundation’s trustees adopted it in April 1998, launching the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Program.
	The centerpiece of the program is a network of Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Centers, with the following goals: Contribute new knowledge that will speed the progress toward a cure for atherosclerotic heart disease. Effectively translate new knowledge into applications that will improve health and prevent cardiovascular diseases. Demonstrate new intellectual and organizational strategies for facilitating translational research and clinical trials, health services research, epidemiology and biostatistics to combat atherosclerotic heart disease. Create innovative and productive approaches for collaborating among scientists at multiple institutions and across disciplines in the conduct of translational research and clinical trials, health services research, epidemiology and biostatistics in the fight against atherosclerotic heart disease. A call for proposals for the first Reynolds Center was issued in September 1998. Kenneth I. Shine, M.D., then President of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, was appointed to recruit and lead the Advisory Panel that would assist in selecting and monitoring the progress of the first Reynolds Center. The American Heart Association agreed to administer the selection process. Howard E. Morgan, M.D., Evan Pugh Professor of Physiology, Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University, was named as a consultant to serve as the Foundation’s liaison with the American Heart Association and help in administering the program. Proposals were received in December 1998 from 17 academic health centers. After thorough assessment of these proposals by the American Heart Association’s peer review committee, Dr. Shine and his Advisory Panel colleagues in June 1999 recommended that the first Reynolds Center be established at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Accepting that advice, the trustees approved a four-year grant to UT Southwestern of $24 million. The Advisory Panel also recommended that Stanford University be invited to refine and resubmit its proposal within one year. In July 2000 the trustees approved a grant to Stanford of $24 million over four years to establish the second Reynolds Center. The Foundation’s Advisory Panel monitored the two Reynolds Centers closely in annual site visits and in April 2002 concluded that both had been successful in launching their activities. That success led the Foundation’s trustees to issue a call for proposals for two more Centers. In response, 25 institutions submitted proposals in September 2002. Aided by a peer review committee convened by the American Heart Association, the Advisory Panel in April 2003 recommended that the two additional Reynolds Centers be established at Johns Hopkins University and at Harvard Medical School and its affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Based on that recommendation, the Foundation’s trustees awarded four-year $24 million grants to both institutions. In addition, they awarded $6 million to UT Southwestern, providing a fifth year of support for the Reynolds Center in Dallas, as recommended by the Advisory Panel. In July 2004 the trustees awarded two supplemental grants, as recommended by the Advisory Panel: $12 million to UT Southwestern, supporting its Reynolds Center for an additional two years, and $6 million to Stanford, providing its Reynolds Center with a fifth, terminal year of support. In October 2005 the trustees initiated a new phase of the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Program in their decision to limit future support to those Center projects offering the greatest promise for clinical impact within a reasonable period of time in the following three areas: § Atherosclerosis and associated inflammation § Heart failure and § Sudden death The first grant under the new guidelines was awarded in May 2006 to UT Southwestern, totaling $11,894,071 over three years, as recommended by the Advisory Panel. In January 2007 the Foundation’s trustees awarded three-year renewal grants of up to $12,885,936 and $12,634,505, respectively, to the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and to Johns Hopkins University. In addition to the direct support of the Reynolds Centers, the Foundation’s trustees have sponsored five symposia of the Centers’ scientists. The next symposium will be hosted in Dallas by UT Southwestern in May 2007. The Reynolds Centers and their symposia represent a major investment by the Foundation, totaling more than $157 million. The Reynolds Centers and their symposia represent a major investment by the Foundation, totaling more than $157 million. The work of the three current Centers is described below. Additional information on the Reynolds Centers is available at: http://www.reynoldscenters.org THE DONALD W. REYNOLDS CARDIOVASCULAR CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTERS The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas The goals of UT Southwestern’s Reynolds Center are to improve the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic heart disease and to prevent or reverse heart failure resulting from the disease. Serving all of the Center’s work is the Dallas Heart Study, providing detailed data on the health, genes, living conditions, behaviors and beliefs of a representative sample of Dallas County’s population. The Center is directed by Helen H. Hobbs, M.D., an expert on molecular genetics who also directs the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development. In addition to Dr. Hobbs, the Reynolds investigators are Eric N. Olson, Ph.D., and Daniel J. Garry, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Hobbs is leading a major project, drawing on the Dallas Heart Study population, to develop tools that can identify more individuals at various stages of risk for the development and progression of atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic heart disease. Dr. Olson is attempting to employ small molecules to change the interaction of proteins to halt harmful heart enlargement. Dr. Garry is collaborating with Dr. Olson in an effort to discover how resident stem cells could be made to become heart cells that could play a role in repairing a damaged heart. Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital The Reynolds Center at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital is focused on identifying new targets for therapy and new predictors of risk for atherosclerosis. The Center is directed by Peter Libby, M.D., Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Other Reynolds investigators are Paul M. Ridker, M.D., and Marc S. Sabatine, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Ralph Weissleder, M.D., Ph.D, and Robert E. Gerszten, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital. All also are members of Harvard Medical School’s faculty. A major Harvard project, led by Dr. Ridker, is developing a Reynolds Risk Score to assess an individual’s risk for atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic heart disease. That work draws on the widely used Framingham risk score and involves identification and validation of possible new biomarkers, tapping genetic and other data from the Women’s Health Study. Another Harvard project, led by Drs. Libby and Weissleder, seeks to apply advances in molecular imaging to the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. Drs. Gerszten and Sabatine are leading a project to identify metabolism-generated (metabolomic) markers by which to detect an over-stressed heart and early-stage atherosclerosis. Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University Reynolds Center is devoted to reducing the incidence of sudden death associated with cardiovascular disease and to developing new therapies to regenerate heart tissue and strengthen the heart. The Center is directed by Eduardo Marbán, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Cardiology. Its other Reynolds investigators are Robert G. Weiss, M.D., and Aravinda Chakravarti, Ph.D. A project led by Dr. Weiss seeks to identify the risk of sudden death among patients with a history of heart attacks, employing clinical data and state-of-the-art molecular imaging methods. One goal is to determine who will benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). A second project, led by Dr. Chakravarti, is searching for DNA variations that may be associated with sudden death. Preliminary results point to one gene and possibly others. Dr. Marban is attempting to develop therapies aimed at regenerating damaged heart tissue, drawing on stem cells that are present in the heart. THE DONALD W. REYNOLDS FOUNDATION CARDIOVASCULAR CLINICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY PANEL CHAIRMAN James T. Willerson, M.D. Edward Randall III Chair and President University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston SECRETARYEugene R. Passamani, MD Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs Suburban Hospital Healthcare System Bethesda, Maryland PANEL MEMBERS Craig T. Basson, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine Director, Cardiovascular Research Greenberg Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine Department of Cell and Developmental Biology Weill Medical College of Cornell University The New York Presbyterian Hospital Thomas F. Budinger, MD, PhD Head, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Functional Imaging Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Chair, Department of Bioengineering University of California, Berkeley Robert M. Califf, M.D. Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research Director, Duke Translational Medicine Institute Duke University Medical Center Bernard J. Gersh, MB, ChB, DPhil Division of Cardiovascular Diseases Mayo Clinic Russell V. Luepker, MD, MS Mayo Professor & Head Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health University of Minnesota David D. Sabatini, Doc en Med, PhD Professor and Chairman Department of Cell Biology New York University School of Medicine Updated: January 30, 2007